Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, June 30, 1998

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101 MAIN-MS/C/25JUN98/MN/KK--Michelle Scully, widow of John Scully, who was killed in the 101 California massacre, with her two sons from her second marriage at their San Pedro home. The boys are Frank Scully Hobus, 20 months and Ryan Thomas Hobus, 5 weeks. PHOTO BY KIM KULISH/FOR THE CHRONICLE less

101 MAIN-MS/C/25JUN98/MN/KK--Michelle Scully, widow of John Scully, who was killed in the 101 California massacre, with her two sons from her second marriage at their San Pedro home. The boys are Frank Scully ... more

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Somber workers exit 101 California Street, SF - scene of the shooting deaths of nine people, including a gunman with a grudge. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE PHOTO BY CHRIS STEWART

Somber workers exit 101 California Street, SF - scene of the shooting deaths of nine people, including a gunman with a grudge. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE PHOTO BY CHRIS STEWART

Photo: CHRIS STEWART

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101 MAIN 1/C/1JUL93/MN/VM--CHRONICLE PHOTO BY VINCE MAGGIORA

101 MAIN 1/C/1JUL93/MN/VM--CHRONICLE PHOTO BY VINCE MAGGIORA

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Assistant Chief of Police at SFPD, Earl Sanders investigated the 101 California shootings when he was in the homicide unit. CHRONICLE PHOTO BY DEANNE FITZMAURICE

Assistant Chief of Police at SFPD, Earl Sanders investigated the 101 California shootings when he was in the homicide unit. CHRONICLE PHOTO BY DEANNE FITZMAURICE

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Police officers stand outside 101 California Street, SF - scene of the shooting deaths of nine people, including a gunman with a grudge. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE PHOTO BY CHRIS STEWART

Police officers stand outside 101 California Street, SF - scene of the shooting deaths of nine people, including a gunman with a grudge. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE PHOTO BY CHRIS STEWART

THE SADNESS NEVER LEAVES YOU

MICHELLE JEAN

San Francisco Police Officer Michelle Jean was thinking of two things as she entered the highrise: how to stay alive, and how to kill the gunman.

He was last reported on the 32nd floor, so she and three other cops took an elevator to the 29th floor, hoping to come upon him from below.

As they entered the stairwell, they saw blood pouring down the wall from above. Below, Jean saw a pair of eyes looking up at them. Several minutes of "sheer terror" passed before they established that Sergeant Pat Tobin and Officer Steve Landi were below them.

A few minutes later, she and the other police came upon Gian Luigi Ferri's body in the stairwell. He had shot himself in the head.

"I knew immediately that he was a suspect," Jean said. "Who else would have those two Tec-9s strapped around his shoulders and a .45-caliber pistol? It was a relief to know we weren't going to have to get into this huge gun battle with him. We were standing in pools of blood, so we kept on going to the 32nd floor, where we heard there were other victims."

EARL SANDERS

To this day, every time Assistant Chief Earl Sanders sees the 101 California highrise, he is filled with a deep sense of disappointment.

"You would think we'd learned our lesson -- when you see what happens when those (assault weapons) get into the hands of people who mow down victims," said Sanders, a former homicide inspector who investigated the massacre with his partner, Napoleon Hendrix.

"If he (Ferri) had two .45-caliber guns, people would have gotten away. But it's kind of a war going after a guy like this. When we get a Ferri the next time, I want the phone numbers of the guys who want those weapons to remain in the hands of the general public. I'll call them and they can go get Ferri."

MIKE WHOOLEY

Captain Mike Whooley had been working as a paramedic for 16 years when

he answered the call at 101 California St. But this was the

first time he thought he would die.

He went up into the highrise anyway. "There were people up there who needed my help," he said.

There were victims on the 32nd floor. After one unsuccessful attempt to find them, Whooley went back again with other paramedics, police and firefighters.

"We are like the military: We don't leave people behind," he said.

Inside Suite 3275, Whooley found two dead and two wounded, including a 33-year-old legal secretary, Deborah Fogel, who had been shot in the chest. As he began treating her, "she basically took her last breath," he said. "I have had a lot of people die in front of me before. But with Fogel it was bad because we had been trying to get to her, and when we got there it was too late."

MICHELLE SCULLY

Michelle Scully has trouble watching television or going to the movies because every time she sees the barrel of a gun it brings back terrible memories.

Scully and her husband, John, were hiding in an office when the gunman burst in and began firing at them. Scully was shot in the arm, and John, who had shielded her with his body, was fatally wounded by a half dozen bullets to his side.

After the gunman left, Scully called 911 and then waited for help to come. "Michelle, I'm dying. I love you," John told her just before he died in her arms.

Three years ago, at an impromptu college reunion, she ran into an old friend, John Hobus, who had known John and had attended their wedding. When they started dating she told him, "John Scully will always be a part of my life." That didn't bother John Hobus.

The two married in May 1996 and soon had a little boy whom they named Francis Scully Hobus. They had second boy a month ago, Ryan Thomas. Scully considers herself lucky to have met Hobus and made a new life, though "the sadness never leaves you."

STEPHEN SPOSATO

Stephen Sposato and his 10-month-old daughter, Megan, were virtually inseparable after the 101 California shooting. When he testified before Congress or spoke to victims' groups, he carried Megan with him in a pack on his back, a poignant image that has lingered long after the tragedy.

After his wife, Jody Jones-Sposato, was killed, Sposato went through a painful grieving process, battling bouts of depression and anger. "I had a couple of dark years there," he said.

Five years later, Sposato has moved on. In October, he married a woman whom he had met through a close friend, and they live in the same Lafayette home that he shared with Jody.

Megan is almost 6 years old and about to start the first grade. Sposato says that she is a dynamic little girl who has remained close to Jody's parents.

He thinks of the shooting when he sees Jody's parents, or hears a song, or sees a look on Megan's face. Whenever he and his daughter go by the 101 California building, she says, "This is where the man came with the big bad guns and killed Mommy."

Looking back, Sposato said that he is a better person now, having become a fervent gun-control advocate and for having shared part of his life with Jody.

"Jody lives on with Megan and me. That's just the way it is," he said. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

MEMORIAL OBSERVANCE

Victims of the 101 California Street shooting plan to meet at noon tomorrow at the plaza in front of the office building to mark the tragedy's fifth anniversary. Family, friends and the public are welcome.

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